Goblin Commander: Unleash The Horde – GC – Review

That’s why I was excited to
hear about Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde.  Goblin Commander is not a PC
game and it probably never will be.  It was developed from the ground up with
the game console controllers in mind.

Sounds like a great idea,
but did this development strategy create better results?

Players will be delighted
by Goblin Commander’s two gameplay modes.  The standard controls situate the
game from a top-down view.  You have a cursor, and with it you can quickly
peruse the area and see what’s ahead.  Parts of the world that have not been
explored are blacked out, making it impossible to take a sneak peak at what
your adversaries might be planning.

The cursor’s main purpose
is to select units and direct them toward a target.  The target could be
anything from an enemy to a large gate protecting the enemy, or just a giant
boulder.  This is done in the simplest of ways: press the A button (or a
designated unit button) to place a guide point flag.  If the flag is placed
near or on top of an enemy, your warriors will rip him to shreds.  If the flag
is placed on top of a machine, your warriors will destroy it.  These controls
are all about pointing and clicking.  It’s like most real-time strategy games
only a lot easier to maneuver on a console.

That wasn’t enough
though.  Goblin Commander’s developers wanted to make the game even more
appropriate for a console.  And what’s more appropriate than giving the player
the chance to take control of an individual warrior?  Selecting an individual
unit (including a giant, hugely powerful Titan) brings the camera down to a
behind-the-character view.  The camera can be managed using the C-stick,
giving players optimal control where it is necessary.  The thumbstick moves
the goblin in the same way that it would if the game were an
action/adventure.  Your allies can be told to follow, and they’ll attack
enemies on their own.  You may not always want to put them in danger,
especially when you’re commanding a Titan, so you also have the option to tell
your units to stay where they are.

There’s a decent amount
of destruction in this game; when you’re not slaughtering enemy goblins, be on
the lookout for rocks and other destructible objects.  Destroying them will
increase your wealth, which increases your ability to buy more units and
upgrade those units to a much stronger level.  When the going gets tough
you’re going to be left with few goblins on your side.  You’ll always need
more units to do battle with.

Goblin Commander kindly
welcomes players into its world with an extremely helpful tutorial.  The
tutorial is integrated into the game itself and is disguised in the form of
help icons (blue circles with a question mark on them).  This means that you
can choose to ignore many of the tutorial notes if you know what you’re doing
and skip the mandatory ones as soon as they pop up.

However, you won’t want
to do that your first time through.  The manual makes the game appear to be
one of the most complex titles available for a game console, but believe me
when I say that this is not at all the case.  Goblin Commander’s controls are
very basic, and very intuitive.  There’s a fair amount to learn, but it didn’t
take me five minutes to memorize the key control elements.  The game begins
with the most basic setup and becomes more complex as you progress.  Even at
its most complex setting Goblin Commander is still not as complex as the
latest real-time strategy games for the PC.

Goblin Commander’s flaws
are purely technical.  The top-down camera makes it difficult to see
everything on the screen; the third-person camera can be hard to control.  A
tree or some other large barrier might block your characters’ view from time
to time.  The barriers are supposed to become transparent as soon as your
units walk underneath them, but the game is imperfect and does not always
react accordingly.  These annoyances can be frustrating at times, but they’re
nothing I’m not willing to withstand to enjoy this game.  It’s just too good
to throw away because of a technical issue.

Goblin Commander: Unleash
the Horde is the real-time strategy game I’ve been waiting for.  It’s got all
of the features that make an RTS great, some entirely new features, and
controls developed specifically for a game console.  If you liked Command &
Conquer or any other RTS that has been ported to a console then you must, at
the very least, play this game as soon as possible.  I recommend Goblin
Commander to any RTS fan except for those PC nuts that want everything to be
big and complex.

Gameplay: 8.7
Goblin Commander
is real-time strategizing at its best.  The 10+ single-player campaign levels
are great.  It’s a short quest, but players will be hooked till the end.  This
is the kind of game you’ll want to finish in one sitting.  The controls are a
big part of this game’s success.  They’re easy to learn and function without
any major issues.  Taking command of individual units only adds to the fun.

Graphics: 7.9
Almost achieving
graphical beauty, Goblin Commander is a little below the level of detail it
could have reached.  It’s still a detailed game, just not one that’ll surprise
its players.

Sound: 7
Decent music and
interesting voice-overs from goblins who don’t speak English.  (Their words
are translated on screen.)

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Hardcore gamers
will likely think this game is easy, but the rest of you should be satisfied
with the challenge.

Concept: 8.5
All hail the
developers!  This concept is one of the year’s best.  A real-time strategy
game with console controls and action game elements.  Brilliant combination,
excellent execution.

Multiplayer: 7.5

Overall: 8.4
If your days are
feeling bored, then I say unleash the horde!  Goblin Commander is the best
multi-platform real-time strategy game ever made.  It’s packed with replay
value; you’ll want to start another game and play through it again right after
finishing it.  Leading an army into battle with a Titan in front is a blast –
the enemy will never know what hit ’em!  None of the stages are particularly
long, but they’re all fun and move at a speedy pace (when compared with other
real-time strategy games).